No Soup for You

So what this map tells me that if I’d been alive and aware of politics in the mid-1950s, my chances of meeting tourists or officials from the Soviet Union visiting the United States would have been nil in my home town.

Idaho Falls lies in the southwest corner of the vast swath of planet forbidden that stretches from the Wyoming border to the Seattle area.

I’m not surprised. Nor am I surprised by bans on travel in much of Washington state, southern Nevada, central Colorado, a big hunk of Texas, the area around Savanna, Georgia, central Tennessee and most of North and South Dakota (which I’ve visited and I can attest the Soviets wouldn’t have missed much). The areas listed here are either connected with nuclear weapons production, nuclear research, or nuclear weapon launch sites. Nor, considering the Soviet proclivity for industrial espionage, is it surprising to see the industrial heartland of the country off-limits.

You’d think, though, that with a map like this, those Soviet spies would be dying to go to those forbidden places.